Numerical taxonomy of Bacillus isolated from orally administered drugs

Abstract

Numerical taxonomy procedures were used to study 118 strains of Bacillus isolated from non-sterile drugs prepared for oral administration. Similarities between pairs of strains were calculated by the simple matching coefficient of Sokal and Michener (SSM). Each strain was tested for 60 unit characters and three clusters were defined. The strains in each cluster presented a similarity level of at least 60%. Cluster A comprised the strains identified as Bacillus cereus (SSM = 93.13%), cluster B contained three subgroups corresponding to the species B. pumilus, B. subtilis and B. licheniformis (SSM = 84.35%) and cluster C also included three subgroups that belonged to the species B. firmus, B. lentus and B. badius (SSM = 80.14%). The most discriminating tests were selected to differentiate the clusters from the subgroups. The feature with the highest discriminating power between clusters A and B was the lack of acid production from arabinose and mannitol. The Voges-Proskauer, methyl red tests and sensitivity to polymyxin B clearly distinguished cluster A from C. The Voges-Proskauer test and acid production from arabinose were the best to differentiate between B and C. Bacillus pumilus and B. subtilis differed in starch hydrolysis and B. licheniformis in growing anaerobically. To discriminate B. firmus from B. lentus the most important tests were the acid production from glucose and sucrose; intermediate strains were found. Bacillus badius was differentiated from B. firmus by 10 tests, and from B. lentus by the production of urease.

Frequency and antimicrobial resistance of bacteria isolated from oral and topical medicaments from Hilla, Iraq

“…The results of this study showed that Bacillus species were the bacteria most frequently found in orally and topically administrated medicaments, and this observation agrees with the work of other investigators [1,2].…”

“…Several papers have been published reporting the contamination of non-sterile pharmaceuticals with microorganisms [1][2][3]. The presence of microorganisms in pharmaceuticals is undesirable because they may cause spoilage of the product and may present an infection hazard to the consumers or patients.…”

Characterization of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from drugs and evaluation of their toxins

“…et al 1980). It has also been reported previously that the genus Bacillus is the most frequent contaminant in oral drugs, with B. cereus as a common contaminant (Willemse-Collinet et al 1978;Gil et al 1986). We have observed, as in previous studies, that stability is maintained in the morphological characteristics of the bacterial cells and colonies (Gibson & Gordon 1974;Claus & Berkeley 1986).…”

“…The contaminants most frequently found are those that can resist environmental agents and which have little nutritional need; prominent among these are the spore-forming rods of the genus Bacillus (Willemse-Collinet et al 1978;Devleeschouwer et al 1980;Economou-Stamatelopoulou & Papavassiliou 1983;Garcia Arribas et al 1986). The majority of Bacillus species have been considered to be harmless, except for Bacillus anthracis.…”